Kalapana Gardens subdivision inundated by Pāhoehoe, Kīlauea

Individual pāhoehoe flow fronts were typically only 10-20 cm thick as they moved through Kalapana. However, the thin leading edges of the flows quickly crusted over and stagnated. As lava continued to push beneath the crust, the cooled surface was lifted up until eventually lava again broke out of the sides and front of the inflated flows. In this way, many of the initially thin flows inflated to a thickness of more than 10 m (33 ft) in the Kalapana area.